Estonia

Abstract

There is evidence of human habitation from around 8000 BC. Remnants of a ‘comb’ pottery culture show the arrival around 5000 BC of the ancestors of the Eestii, one of the first known peoples to inhabit the Baltic’s eastern shores and the forerunners of modern Estonians. Before the arrival of Christianity the cult of Tharapita (or Taara), a god of war, was popular in northern Estonia and the island of Saaremaa.